


Catnip

by Florance_Tallis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-28 19:37:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13278456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Florance_Tallis/pseuds/Florance_Tallis
Summary: Catnip, being a strong feline attractant, enchants the senses of cats and gets them high, making them roll in ecstasy.And there is just something in that room which has a fascinating magnetic pull, an attractive quality that tempts Minerva McGonagall very much.





	Catnip

‘What is this scent?’ she asked unexpectedly.  
‘I ordered some herbal tea ingredients from downstairs.This week has been an inferno at the Ministry, I feel like I could make use of their mild sedative effect.  
They were at the Hog’s Head Inn; upstairs, in a room that Elphinstone rented for the weekend while staying in Hogsmeade. He was about to kickstart his umpteenth biennial Scotland trip.  
‘Sedative? What is in there?’ Minerva asked suspiciously, drawing near him and the table.  
‘Nothing illegal. It is not even a mixture; I asked the dried herbs to be delivered individually, so that I can pick and choose to taste. They all have minor effect on relaxation, similar to herbal cigars.’  
Minerva bent over the tabletop and recognized it immediately.  
Nepeta cataria. _Catnip_.  
She felt an inexplicable, enchanting attraction to it as she stepped closer. It smelled divine. Enticing. Magnetic. The scent itself was not overly strong; on the contrary, it was almost undetectable, yet it engaged all of her senses. She quickly covered her nose and mouth with her palm and held her breath, knowing that cats detect nepetalactone – the plant’s organic compound – through a specialized tissue inside their nasal cavity.  
‘Jesus, you smoke this shit?’  
‘Sometimes,’ he admitted frowning in surprise at her choice of word. ‘Some of them.’  
‘Often?’  
‘Every once in a blue moon.’ He was unsure which one to choose as he was examining the selection neatly arranged before him.  
‘And do you... have them in other forms too? By drinking them for instance?’ She got horrified by the thought that she might have felt that strong attraction toward him recently, due to the traces of substance on his clothes, beard, body.  
‘Occasionally. I don’t keep track of it. Perhaps twice last year, though I have not touched any of them for mon…’  
‘Do you keep it at home? Or in your office?’ she interrupted him in a demanding, impatient tone, referring to the catnip. But since she did not clarify which herb she meant, the question laid odd.   
‘No, I do not. Merlin, Minerva!’ Her reaction left him puzzled. ‘What is wrong, my darling?’  
‘This is _drug_ , Elphinstone.’  
‘Drug?’ He lifted his eyebrows in amused disbelief. ‘There is a bunch of absolutely harmless and non-addictive herbs on the table.’  
He was partially right, though; catnip had completely different impact on humans than on cats.  
‘No, its… fine. I… might have miscategorized one of them at the first hasty glance.’ She started to feel embarrassed about her overreaction. ‘Mearning that… you do not have these regularly, right? I am wondering, because it is very… dangerous, consuming such potent sedatives without proper knowledge of the right doses, and all that.’  
‘There is no reason to trouble yourself with it. I happened to be aware of the right doses. As I said…’  
At his lazy wand motion, the water started boiling in the kettle. Although she was slightly relieved by his answer, the main problem, the catnip was still laying there, oozing that charming, all-pervasive, pheromone-like… thing.  
‘May I then pour some for you too?’  
‘No! No, thank you… no.’ She started to feel restless. ‘May I open the window?’  
‘Are you feeling all right, my darling?’ Elphinstone eyed her slowly up and down.  
‘The air has gotten a bit dense in here.’  
‘Sure.’ He was following the witch with his look all the way to the window.

Minerva had learned over the years that she was exquisitely susceptible to the volatile oil found in the stems and leaves of catmint exclusively during the ovulatory phase in her cycle. Normally her human brain – being physiologically different from cat brain – reacted to catnip as that of anybody else. But now it was that time of the month; besides, the full moon was shining bright in its expanded state onto her, as she impatiently forced the window’s wings apart. With this combination, she could not help feeling like a queen in season.  
Minerva took deep breaths from the cool night air and let it percolate her body. She knew that the main response period after exposure is generally fifteen minutes, after which olfactory fatigue sets in and she would become immune to catnip's effects. And she barely took a smell at it, right? 

Suddenly, she felt her former boss’ arms enwreathing around her waist from behind. She gasped; his move took her by surprise, triggering that certain warm and weakening sensation which spreading through her body, made her knees tremble.  
‘What are you doing?’  
‘Failing to resist temptation,’ he answered burying his head into her neck. Minerva sighed as he proceeded slowly with the kisses. His beard pleasantly teased her skin along the way.  
‘Stop it.’  
She loved the sensation of his strong arms and the warmth of his breath from behind; the way he gently made her surrender. They had not been intimate for a while, and the heady substance made her crave him more.  
‘We can’t do this.’ _Not right now, not like that_ – when she could not tell whether it was the aromatic oil of that fragrant herb or his charisma that was turning her sensuality on.  
‘Yes, we can,’ he murmured into her ears, sliding his hand upward on the back of her thigh underneath her robes.  
‘Have you already... taken a sip from… that tea?’ She felt like melting, but at the same time she could not get the lines – once read in a campaign poster – out of her head (“ _Love potions do not equal consent_ ”). And catnip, that seemingly insignificant herb was a form of narcotic drug for her during that couple days of the month if accidentally consumed or sniffed (from) up (close). Although, he apparently did not make the connection.  
She slipped out of his hold, and backed away from him, panting. ‘I’d better be leaving.’  
‘Wait! Darling…’ Elphinstone reached for her hand as she was turning to leave. ‘I am sorry. I’ll behave myself, promise. I see that I have overstepped a line, my intention was not to scare you.’  
‘You did not scare me.’  
He always left an escape root for her and proved to be immediately responsive, once he felt she wasn’t just playing hard to get, but genuinely wanted to pull away.  
Now, however, he was not sure.  
Minerva did not resist when the man slowly pulled her close again. ‘You are such a liar, Mr. Urquart,’ she whispered when Elphinstone kissed her, then let her go, leaving her craving his lips even more.  
‘I behave myself,’ he winked. ‘From now on,’  
He walked back to the couch, and sit down leisurely with the cup of tea in his hands.  
‘If I were you, I would not drink it. Who knows where the owner imports them from. Judged by the tidiness of this place, and the quality of the beer he serves…’ Minerva found herself inching closer to the couch with every word. She was irresistibly drawn to what she thought was catnip in the cup and on his lips. ‘I thought you hire squibs and refuse to keep house elves, because you are disgusted by the idea of them touching food and your personal belongings with their “dirty” hands. Where has your caution gone?’  
Hers has gone completely for sure, she thought, as she sat down right next to him as close as possible, resting her right hand on his knee.  
‘Disgusted is a rather strong word. I would prefer using “uncomfortable”. Or “living with alternative options when it comes to housekeeping – by personal preference”. And those herbs came in sealed packs,’ he pointed out.  
‘Oh, did they? May I then take a look at… oh, shit! I am terribly sorry.’ As she reached across him for the herbs on the small table, she managed to knock the cup out of his hand, spilling the liquid all over his chest and lap. ‘Have you got burnt? Let me make it vanish…’  
‘Wait, honey, wait… no. Minerva, please! _I am fine._ Listen to me, would you?’ He did not let her perform the magic. ‘There you go... It looks like I am not the only one who had a rough week needing to decompress. And this idea occurred to me not only by noticing the number of curse words – _two_ – you used during the last quarter of an hour; which is precisely _two_ more than you have uttered in my presence since we met for the first time, but...’  
‘Excuse me. You are right.’ She did not really pay attention to him while he was speaking, except the movement of his lips. Minerva pulled closer, running her fingers over the tea-soaked fabric. ‘Let’s… destress then… shall we?’  
She slowly leaned forward hovering for a moment, then unexpectedly joined her lips to his.  
This was the first time _she_ kissed _him_ , although they had been playing their cat-and-mouse game for years. Up until then, she had always been on the receiving end, the sieged one. And Minerva – increasingly willing to admit to herself – did like to indulge in such a role, letting him dominate, and set the pace. She trusted him enough to open up to such an extent, and Elphinstone was undoubtedly good at what he was doing anyway. It was a combination of gentle and forceful, leaving both of them satisfied without fail. She granted her favors to him sparingly, so the chase became more rewarding as a result. And Minerva liked the thought of being merited - not only because she was unsure of the two of them and she felt the need to be pursueded into it every time, but also because Elphinstone had a past. A twenty year longer past then hers, and Minerva refused to be one of his conquests, a trophy in his vitrine. She refused to be conquested altogether by not reciprocating: she either accepted or rejected him, the well-hidden reason being that when they together, it was not merely having sex, they were making love. And initiating it – the witch interpreted deep down – would have amounted to a confession and/or acquiescence from her side.

However, this time, it was different.  
Although Minerva blamed it all on the heady aromatic oils of the catnip that turned her frisky and playful, by that time she felt deep under their influence, engulfed by desire, she could not care less about why she wanted him. She just wanted him badly and simply could not hold herself back from rubbing against his body or tasting his lips again and again. By the same token, she felt to be such a fool for not letting him press on before, because now it looked like as if she was asking for it. But was she not?  
‘It is not… easy… to behave yourself when… temptation herself literally… creeps on you,’ Elphinstone growled, trying to speak the words between her purring kisses.  
He attempted to lay her down along the couch, but she resisted his efforts, slipping away sportively at every turn, climbing back onto his lap. As he ceased trying to overpower her and just laid back to the backrest of the couch, Minerva became more relaxed and focused on what she was doing.  
The buttons of his shirt lost hold by themselves, opening up as she was proceeding downward with her mouth, following the trace where the tea left some stain. Her soft, wet lips on his chest and lower abdomen teased the hell out of him. Elphinstone pulled her back up, ripped her blouse open, and while kissing her neck and breasts, he felt his belt being unfastened down there. She unhooked his trousers, and eased into his lap carefully, making him groan as she started moving with a rolling motion back and forth. Their breathing became increasingly heavier as the speed rose.

Minerva fell in a sleepy and exhausted condition after peaking, as if the substance drained her energy gradually, but completely. She heard Elphinstone’s breathing subsiding underneath her before she slid to his side and fell asleep. The next thing the witch remembered was waking up to the calming rhythm of a heartbeat. She found herself nuzzled up to the man’s wide chest; Elphinstone was gently stroking her hair with slow, automatic motions, contemplating away. The dawn had not broken yet, she must have been asleep for a short period of time.  
‘I love it when you are purring. You were purring in your sleep,’ Minerva could hear his low, husky voice from above.  
‘Was I?’ she muttered while trying to push herself to sitting position.  
‘I know that cats show affection by climbing on your lap and sleeping on you, but…’  
‘I am very thirsty, can I have a glass of water, please?’ She cut him short intentionally.  
‘Sure.’  
As he got up to fetch her something to drink, her ripped blouse opened, for its buttons were scattered all over the floor. Elphinstone had made sure her chest was covered while she was asleep and her body temperature dropped. Looking at the tear, and remembering how she had behaved, made her feel like a whore nevertheless: she had neither acted more unrestrained, nor had been that shamelessly vocal before.  
‘It was a mistake,’ she turned to Elphinstone when he got back.  
‘A very delicious mistake.’  
‘It was a mistake,’ she repeated herself.  
He handed the glass over to her. Minerva took a sip, and immediately spit it out.  
‘I said _water_! For Merlin’s sake…!’  
‘Does it taste that awful? I had not even had the chance to try it before you spilled the other cup all over me.’ Elphinstone lifted the glass she slammed angrily onto the smoking table a moment ago, and took a sip from it unhurriedly.  
‘I am leaving now.’ She stood up furiously, fixing her blouse with a wand motion.  
‘Hmm… regular chamomile tea. Cold by now, but still lovely. I can’t see what’s wrong with it.’  
‘What?’ She turned back at once, surprised. ‘ _Camomile_?’  
‘Yes.’  
‘Are you kidding me?’  
‘Why would I be kidding you?’  
‘And the rest? Where is the rest? The rest of the herbs!’  
She stormed to the table, holding her breath. They were laying there in pretty little bundles, untouched. Including the catnip. He apparently neither touched, nor brewed it.  
‘Let me seal them back,’ Elphinstone said quietly.  
‘Yes, sure.’ Minerva stepped aside to clear his way.  
She was observing his tranquil motions timidly as he was packing the herbs away one by one.  
‘What do you know about that one?’ She swooshed down onto the opportunity as he got to the catnip. Elphinstone was better at potions and ingredients than her.  
‘ _Nepeta floribus interrupte spicatis pedunculatis_ , literally meaning "Nepeta with flowers in a stalked, interrupted spike". It serves as a mild sedative when consumed as tea, and is commonly recommended by herbalists to lessen migraine headaches and to relieve cramps, indigestion, insomnia, and nervousness. Or as a paste, to reduce swelling associated with arthritis and soft tissue injury.’  
‘Oh.’  
‘This, I have never smoked,’ he admitted, making it twirl in the air with his wand. ‘And it has such overly bitter taste when brewed that you just cannot mask with sweetener. Although cats eat it for aiding their digestive system; helps them to throw back up the hair they swallowed.  
‘Cats?’ she pressed on cautiously.  
‘Yes,’ the man went on abstractedly. ‘For this reason, some also call it Nepeta cataria. Cats can even smell it out from afar, I guess. But I am familiar only with its impact on humans.’  
‘That is about it?’  
‘That is about it.’ Elphinstone looked at her, wagging his head. Then he froze as realization hit him. ‘Cats! Oh, what an elevated fool was I! You were afraid that it gets in your drink and makes you feel nauseas!’  
‘Well…’  
‘But would it even have any effect on you?’ he frowned. ‘You are not in cat form after all…’  
‘No…. I don’t know. Let’s just… Let’s just not try it out.’


End file.
